Tami Erwin is CEO of Verizon Business. She was interviewed by Fierce Wireless’ Editor in Chief Linda Hardesty in November, 2021 at Fierce’s Enterprise 5G event.
Erwin oversees a large organization selling business services to enterprises. The value of the business unit at Verizon is more than $31 billion, and she oversees 24,000 employees globally. Verizon Business has five segments: enterprise, mid-markets, small business, public sector and wholesale.
This transcript was lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Fierce: Our event today is the Enterprise 5G event, so we're going to be focusing on enterprise verticals. A couple of years ago, we were talking about potential 5G use cases for enterprises, and the conversation revolved around things like remote surgery and robots and that kind of thing. But the discussion seems to have evolved since then, where we're talking more now about things like mobile edge computing. So, I kind of wanted to start with just asking, how do you think Enterprise 5G has evolved in the past couple of years?
Erwin: Yeah, so many places we can go with that question in terms of how has 5G and enterprise evolved. I think the thing that's been most important, Linda, over the last couple of years, we've actually delivered 5G mobility, 5G fixed wireless access, and for enterprises, 5G mobile edge compute, both private as well as public. And those have been really important milestones for enterprise customers. Two years ago, we launched with AWS, 5G public mobile edge compute that opened up for developers the opportunity for a million developers to take the power of mobile edge compute and really begin to find vertical applications, for B2B as well as B2C. And then here in the last six months, we've announced 5G mobile edge compute private with both Azure as well as last week with AWS. So it's beginning to move very, very quickly, based on the work that we've done to deploy 5g millimeter wave for all of those 5G applications. We are just on the cusp of preparing to launch 5G with our C-band spectrum, which we'll take and broaden out that ecosystem, which is so important for enterprises as they look at, how do they really scale the opportunity that 5G presents for their businesses?
Fierce: So, no big 5G killer app yet? Or what are your thoughts on that?
Erwin: Yeah, listen, I think what we're building is the, I like to think about it as the sandbox. It's the capability, it's the ecosystem that says I have a 5G network. I have 5G handsets. So today we have about 20% to 25% of our customers using 5G handsets. We have the ability with 5G, private networks and mobile edge compute where we are live in customer premises. So whether it's work that we're doing at GM and their factory, whether it's Corning's factory, where you do have real-time enterprise capability, applications and solutions up and running, we are seeing that really now come together where the network and the ecosystem meets the pain point that the customer has to really say, how do you begin to with real-time enterprise information, provide applications and solutions, and then the power of edge compute to really say, I see the problem, I detect the problem, I fix the problem in real time.
Speed is really what we're seeing across manufacturing in healthcare. Certainly you mentioned earlier robotics and surgery. I would add to that remote diagnostics, which has been a really big application. We're seeing that live today where a physician who's doing a colonoscopy can see polyps at a speed that they would not be able to see with the naked eye. So, we really have gone from technical proof of concept to beginning to identify and solve some of these real pain points for enterprises, with the power of the network, the ecosystem, and then really the adoption of edge compute cases where it's changing how people operate their businesses.
Another really big category is retail. When you think about real-time inventory capability, when you think about the ability to use the information about the customer that's in your store to effectively change the transaction that you engage with the customer, some really tremendous retail applications and solutions as well.
Fierce: I did want to talk about the verticals, and so we've chatted a little bit about healthcare and you're talking about retail. What do you think is the biggest vertical that's using 5G right now in your business?
Erwin: I think the biggest one we're seeing today is some of the manufacturing applications and capabilities; where we're seeing edge compute really be effective is where you have the ability to have enterprise capability with private networks and then the ability to expand and extend that into enterprise applications. In warehouses I mentioned earlier GM. I would also just acknowledge Corning — I think a really important use case. We look at how do enterprises in manufacturing really change and think differently about the deployment of their business. We also have British ports, another kind of version of industrial, British ports in the U.K. today using private networks. So private networks, oftentimes they're going hand in hand with the mobile edge compute capability. I think the other big application that we're seeing some forward momentum and progress in is really how we see stadiums.
You know, for the last 18 months, we weren't sure we'd ever go back to stadiums, but now with the NFL and full production NFL, NHL, NBA, we have been their partners of choice and really building out tremendous capability with 5G millimeter wave in those dense locations. So, the days of going to a football game and not being able to get a text message from somebody outside of the stadium, or be able to customize your own video…. Now, if you go into a stadium, you have your own camera lenses that you can set for your viewing experience. It really begins to facilitate and set up a different kind of betting environment for people who are imagining betting in stadiums, which is coming very, very quickly. It's not something we're building, but enabling with our 5G network, when you think about security capability.
You think about merchandise purchasing without having to actually touch money. You can order online, have it delivered online. So it's really changing the fan experience, both in terms of how they access the stadium, what they do when they're in the stadium and how they communicate, and then setting up a whole new ecosystem for things like betting and the use of being able to share that personalized content in a meaningful way. So that's another big application that I think we're seeing, so the vertical of entertainment, but B to B to C because it begins to expand into the consumer experience as well.
Fierce: So I wanted to go back to the British ports because I feel like this is a relatively new announcement. So is it a mobile edge compute implementation, and does it involve AWS?
Erwin: So today, British ports is a private network solution where we have built private network capability for them working with Nokia as our partner in deploying that because we don't own spectrum outside of the U.S. So we're working with Nokia to be able to deploy that over time. The expectation is that then they will build that edge compute cases once they have their private network capability in place. So that was really the first big 5G private network deployment that we did outside of the U.S., and we think it's important because while we lead the world in our 5G deployment here in the U.S. for both mobility, FWA, and private networks, our customers that we serve in the enterprise space, of course, they're global. And they're looking for solutions that they can build here and replicate elsewhere around the world. I'm going to be in Germany later this week with the manufacturing teams in auto, how do you really scale some of the auto solutions as well? So it really is build-it-here replicate elsewhere because of the partnerships that you build around the world.
Fierce: And in the United States would you consider the NFL stadiums as private networks or as mobile edge compute implementations, or does it kind of not matter what you call it?
Erwin: I'm not sure it really matters what you call it, but let me kind of explain for a minute. All the NFL stadiums, and really in big venues across the U.S., because of the wide swath of millimeter wave spectrum that we own, we have gone into those largely congested geos, like a stadium, like a university, and said, let's place the right kind of coverage here to deal with the capacity demands that we see in a stadium. And so, we started doing that two and a half years ago, and building out the right kind of network. That's a public network because everybody has access to it. I expect over time that you will have stadiums that want private network capability layered on top of that, if they choose, it may also be network slicing where you slice a component of that network and you provide a unique use case, like first responders as an example.
Fierce: Is your group doing anything with Verizon’s CBRS spectrum?
Erwin: So as we think about spectrum it’s really important that we think about all the different spectrum. I think about, you know, we have this access to CBRS. We have access to the millimeter wave spectrum of a very deep, wide swath of that. And then of course in the first quarter we announced our acquisition of C-band spectrum. And so depending on the application and the use case and where we're building and what we're building for, we use all of that as complements to how we serve our customers most efficiently for the application and use case. CBRS can be a good spectrum for a number of different things. We work back with our engineering team depending on the application and use case and use it depending on what's the best solution for the customer in that geo or in that application and use case.
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Fierce: I definitely wanted to ask you about the big news recently that Verizon is working with Amazon's Project Kuiper.
Erwin: AWS has been a tremendous partner for us on the work that we have done around mobile edge compute first with public, and then with private. We've expanded that partnership with Amazon and are really excited about the announcement last week with the Project Kuiper and the work we're doing with their low earth orbit satellite constellation that we believe gives us the ability with the power of our network, working with a partner like Amazon, to cover areas in really helping to close some of the digital divide and very hard to reach and cover areas. And so we believe there's not a better partner out there to work with than Amazon based on the experience we've had with them in the work we've done with AWS and building out edge compute applications and solutions, which we've been doing now for several years, the ability to partner with Amazon and project Kuiper and really deploy LEO, that's a longer term success, but it's one where you build those partnerships early, and then you bring the best of the best from a technical capability together and say, how do we solve for the problems that we know we continue to have.
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Fierce: And your group has five subgroups. I was curious which one of them Kuiper fell under.
Erwin: Project Kuiper will certainly serve business and consumer customers. So I run the B2B practice for Verizon. My colleague Ronan Dunne serves the consumer team. Kuiper will really meet the needs of all of our customers. It's our network team led by Kyle Malady and his team that will do the technical integration with our network to serve all of our customer segments. What I like about our B2B segmentation is we can serve small business. Customers will certainly benefit from Project Kuiper, and medium businesses as well. And then you get into global enterprise, and then public sector, which we've not spent any time talking about — first responders, the entire public sector space will certainly benefit from that as well. You think about first responders, you think about some of the wildfires that they may be facing some of the natural disasters where they may not have coverage, expect them to benefit as well.
Fierce: Okay. So it really runs across all of the segments. But for Verizon, it's a backhaul deal, correct?
Erwin: It's the ability to backhaul, yes. But it's also the ability to reach customers where we may not be able to reach them effectively today on that backhaul and the extension of the spectrum that we have. So it becomes a component of our overall network integration and how we meet the needs of customers. You know, you tend to think about backhaul as that final mile is oftentimes a fiber backhaul. It's the reason we have built out our own fiber networks across the U.S. You may know that we've built out about 1,600 to 1,700 miles of fiber every single month. And we've been doing that over the last couple of years as we've deployed 5G millimeter wave and now C-band because it gives us that backhaul, that last mile is on our own fiber. Having the ability to partner with somebody like an Amazon gives us that capability to get into hard-to-reach areas and provide capability that may not otherwise be available.
Fierce: And it's interesting about all that fiber that you're deploying. Is that all across the U.S.?
Erwin: It is across the U.S., and it's very targeted in terms of where and how quickly we can deploy our network. But it is entirely across the U.S. You tend to think about Verizon's fiber footprint is up and down the Eastern seaboard, where we've had our own CDN networks and our Fios network. This is expanding that outside, across the rest of the U.S. so that we have our own fiber network to really then secure the performance of our wireless network as well.
Fierce: It's interesting to think of a wireless provider like Verizon providing the fiber backhaul in rural areas. Anything more to say about closing the digital divide? I'm not really sure how much attention your group pays to that.
Erwin: Certainly, we've done a lot of work through Citizen Verizon and the way we've defined our broader social responsibilities to closing the digital divide. I think about my business unit is one of two business units. And then the broader Verizon is really committed to how do we serve all four of our stakeholders. We think about serving customers, employees, shareholders, and then society at large. And that's really where the work that we talk about with closing the digital divide fits right there. As we think about how do we make sure that as we show up with our Verizon innovative learning program, it's one of the best programs I've seen out there, which is how do we take our 5G technology into schools, into underserved communities and provide that technology, not only just from an infrastructure, a network availability, but from a device standpoint to the schools, as well as to the students. And then teaching teachers how to teach with a curriculum that is electronically based. And so we've done a lot of work around innovative learning in addition to helping to build the networks that connect the capability. So a lot of work being done here. Citizen Verizon expands that work to really make sure that as we make commitments to things like closing the digital divide, we have measurable ways that we can look at how we do that.
Fierce: Okay. Circling back a little bit to enterprise 5G, what's happening with autonomous vehicles? Like I said in the beginning, that was kind of a buzz phrase at the beginning of 5G. But I feel like autonomous vehicles turns out to be one of the really more challenging use cases. So, what is happening in that regard?
Erwin: I think we're seeing this evolve slower than we might have originally imagined in terms of how quickly would we all be in vehicles that were driven autonomously. What we are seeing in some of the testing we're doing, and we are working closely in lab environments with people who are building this capability, is that in a 4G ecosystem, imagine the clearance to the car in front of you as four inches because of the latency. In a 5G ecosystem we're seeing this, real-time in the testing that we're doing, you get four feet of clearance to the car in front of you from an autonomous vehicle standpoint. So, I don't know about you, but for me, I feel much more confident in a 5G ecosystem where you now have the ability to have four feet of clearance on that autonomous vehicle capability, instead of just for inches, like you might have on a 4G LTE network.
So certainly the low latency capability and the performance that we're seeing on 5G millimeter wave and 5G C-band gives us reason to believe that we will accelerate autonomous vehicles very, very quickly as you begin to build out the strength of that network and have it more ubiquitously available. If you think about millimeter wave to date has been primarily in dense populations. To have autonomous vehicles work well, you really need it across the nation. So wherever you go, you have the capability to have that kind of low latency capability. C-band suggests to us, based on our testing, that we will not only have the ability to deliver that kind of performance over the next several years, but the performance is every bit as good as we had anticipated from a coverage from a latency standpoint.
Fierce: How far out do you think autonomous driving is, in practicality?
Erwin: Listen, I'm not going to predict the future, but I would suggest everything I'm seeing indicates that there will be real-time use cases where we begin to see that happen in the next three to five years. And then I think at scale, it's going to be awhile.
Fierce: Verizon still has, I presume, a number of 5G labs? I'm not sure what the latest count is maybe five or six?
Erwin: I think there's six or seven of them across the country.
Fierce: And are you seeing some interesting innovation and value from that?
Erwin: We are. The lab environment has been a little bit tricky with Covid, right. We built those lab environments with the expectations you'd have developers come into those lab environments. In fact, I will be at our latest one tonight in Boston, and it's the first time I've been there with a big group of customers. And as we now bring developers in, we've had to find over the last 12 to 18 months, different ways to provide access to developers to the 5G network because the ability to bring them into the lab environment was not as easily done. We have maintained those labs. So that now, as we're beginning to open things back up, there's more testing capability, but we are beginning to see some really interesting things around AR and VR capabilities. So as you think about augmented reality, and I'll give you a specific one around education, the ability to be a student and be in the middle of a Coliseum, because you have AR VR capability available to live in and be in the middle of that Coliseum, as opposed to reading an old textbook, which you might imagine and think about what it would be like is very different to have that immersive AR/VR capability.
That's moving very, very quickly in lab environments, and we've also deployed some of these 5G networks out into partner lab environments, where they can test them themselves. So in addition to our own lab environments, dispatching those out, I think there's a lot happening in financial services, as well as you begin to think about transactions around speed-to-banking and some of the cyber or cryptocurrency capabilities. So speed will matter in networks. And we're certainly testing it across a number of different verticals with partners, both in our own labs, as well as deployment of 5G labs to their environment.
Fierce: Yeah, I can't help but wondering if there's anything going on in Verizon's labs related to the metaverse?
Erwin: As we look at the metaverse and Facebook's kind of repositioning of that, we are doing a lot of work with a lot of partners, nothing that I'm prepared to talk about today. But I will tell you the space of AR/VR is a big deal. And what we're seeing is the potential and the capability of Verizon's network to really unlock that with low latency, high speeds, strong throughput, and tremendous reliability is certainly what something like a Meta will require to fully unlock that kind of an experience.
Fierce: All right. Well, we're coming toward the end of our time. Is there anything else that you would like to add about enterprise 5G from Verizon's perspective?
Erwin: Yeah, I guess I would close, Linda, with a thought that you opened with, there were a lot of exciting things happening. Are we really living up to that challenge? I would tell you that Covid has certainly created some challenges for all of us over the last 18 months, but what I've seen is an acceleration from every enterprise customer I talk to around accelerating their digital transformation based on, and built on the core of what we're doing with 5G. And that's an exciting time to be in the space to really innovate and think about how do we change the kind of outcomes for the way we all live, work and plan. I'm seeing every enterprise committed to doing that. I'm excited about the network performance and capability we're delivering both with 5G millimeter wave and then with 5G C-band that we expect to deploy here shortly. So, it's an exciting time to be an enterprise. There's a lot of work to do. It's real-time transformation, digitization, and security capability that every enterprise requires, and we deliver.
Fierce: All right, well, this has been a great conversation, and we really appreciate you being here, Tami. Thank you so much.
Erwin: Thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about it.